Poet Society is a really beautiful mix of masculine and feminine patterns and embellishments, at least in my opinion. I'm in love with some of the new items from Crate Paper and Shimelle.
Here are my sneaks for the scrapbook kit and add ons...

You may have already heard the big news. Ali Edwards, who I like to refer to as the "Oprah" of scrapbooking is now partnering with Studio Calico in the next chapter of her career. Her video captures her message and spirit beautifully. Congrats to her and all of her success, present and future.

I'm really excited about the 2 new class offerings at Studio Calico which will be bringing it down to the essentials of why we scrapbook. Pen & Paper with Laura Kurz I'm most excited about not only because I'm a big fan of Laura but journaling I struggle with the most.

Snapshot with April Foster will be a great way to inject a bit of inspiration into your everyday capturing. Studio Calico is also offering these classes as a bundle which is the way I'm going. This will be a great way to kick off the fall season!

With all the kiddos heading back to school (yay!) SC is having a great sale on past classes so if you missed out, now's your chance!

Hey guys! Did you catch the reveal last night? There were quite a few new items added to the Studio Calico shop as well!
One of the things we (the CT) decided to do for the August gallery was to pick a member and do a lift. I immediately chose Maria Lacuesta also known as Analogpaper.

She's been on my radar lately and her gallery has no shortage of inspiration. I couldn't choose just 1 layout to lift so I decided to use her style as my inspiration. Everything in my August gallery has hints of Maria's style.

With this layout I was inspired by her use of Silhouette cuts and the fun bits she adds to her layouts. I love her use of white space and she always adds just enough embellishment to make it interesting yet it all remains wonderfully simple. You can view her full layout here.

Of course she was my inspiration for my Project Life spreads as well.

I'm a big fan of using 6x8 photos in the Handbook. Maria is as well. I really love the little creative touches she adds to these larger scale photos.

I wanted to get to know Maria a little more so I asked her to answer my Currents. Let's see what's she up to.

Eating - Ramen! Glorious ramen with broth boiled over high heat for over 10 hours. Even on hot days. Even though I get it all over my shirt when I slurp up the noodles.

Drinking - Have you seen the crazy Limon-Pepino Gatorade? It's a little weird and I don't even know if I like it, but I can't stop drinking it.

Watching - So, as of today, I've watched the entire Fringe series 2.5 times. Is that embarrassing?

Listening - At this moment, Cocteau Twins! Makes me happy while I work :)

Loving - My small format Project Life album. Since switching over to the 6x8 size, I've been much more inspired to work on it. I love being being able to throw together a layout without stressing too much. And I especially love including full page photos. It took a lot of experimenting, but I finally have a nice rhythm going with Project Life and I'm officially addicted.

Loathing - Choosing what to wear. Gone are the days when I would have a new cute outfit everyday. Now, if I find something I like, it becomes my uniform for weeeeks. This summer, I'm all about the maxi skirt, tank, and chambray shirt (for when it gets chilly).

Making - Analog-Paper.com, my new website! My old blog was more of a design exercise as I learned how to code, but this new site is truly a labor of love as I'll be sharing a little bit more about myself, the way I work, and trying to cultivate a happy life. Keeping it real is definitely kind of scary, but I'm looking forward to the challenge and I know it will be a rewarding experience.

Thanks Maria! Keep on doing you thang and we'll keep on being inspired!

Sandlot goes live tomorrow! I have to say, I'm loving all the digital items created for this month and I was super inspired by a certain SC member as well. Rather than a general lift, I decided to base all of my creations on the member I chose. I'll reveal her on Monday with a little Currents q&a.

Both sneaks are from the main Copper Mountain scrapbooking + Project Life kits. Loving the lodgy, comfortable feel. This will be my first month creating for the PL CT gallery. Pretty stoked (and somewhat nervous). One thing I aim to do is to be more consistent. I remained pretty nonchalant about 2013 but I really want to commit for 2014. I guess you could say that would be my main goal for 2014 in general.....to commit. To fully commit. Not be super stoked in the beginning and let the spark die off later. I'm pretty good at doing that which is just lame on my part. I'm ready to make that change.

Here are a couple of snippets from behind the scenes of the projects I completed for Studio Calico's first e-book, Jubilee. I just looked through the completed pdf. IT IS AMAZING. So many beautiful layouts, cards + spreads all created using the exclusive Jubilee kit. This e-book is full of techniques from beginner to advanced. I love it simply for the inspiration. It's on presale now for $34.95 (normally $39.99) + free shipping. Love that.

Random facts

-I mean serious creative business when I wear my green AG skinnies.
-I like working on the floor in front of our french doors.
-I'm working on a piece of plywood painted with chalkboard paint. My portable desk.
-My dog is laying right next to me in both photos.
-Still haven't found a good storage solution for my Peerless waterpapers. They remain scattered in a box.

Did you score everything you hoped at the November reveal? The Cuppa scrapbook kit and Chamomile add on were my favorites this month (and are still available). I could probably use about 20 more of those acetate lightbulbs I used in the above layout. So cool. It's those little things that get me so excited each month. You can see the rest of my layouts here + here.

The Studio Calico website is also completely redesigned. It's beautiful and clean and bright. It's pretty awesome and there are a ton of new features. I still haven't gone through everything myself but I do love the new dashboard and the addition of following members + threads.

Studio Calico has a great offer for the Toolbox class! Here are the details.....

Pretty amazing, no? The teachers leading the class are PHENOMONAL in every way and they have so much creative info + ideas to share with you. I'm honored to be sharing my tips on Typography and using fonts + journaling in PS. There are also some pretty sweet EXCLUSIVE digital items that are only available to Toolbox students.

The digital stamps + cut designs....they make me so very happy. You can view the rest of the class items here.

Stop by Shanna Noel's blog for a chance a to win a spot in the class and then to the Studio Calico blog for more links to the class sneak and giveaway. You can see more peeks from the Toolbox teachers + contributers.

Hey guys!
I've got a week's worth of photo prompts for you to try over on Studio Calico's blog. Check them out here!

I am a huge huge fan of the Afterlight app. I've downloaded + tried many photo apps but this one is it for me personally. I love all the film textures + edits. I've been a long time lover of Polaroid but pretty much gave it up after 600 film went extinct. I feel like this has replaced that void a little plus it costs next to nothing whereas film can fetch a pretty penny. A good thing for a girl on a tight budget.

Studio Calico's July kit, Valley High is now available for your making pleasure. They have worked diligently to provide more inventory on all kits and add ons including the Project Life kits. I know those are a hot commodity. :)
Studio Calico is now offering $5 off to all NEW SUBSCRIBERS. This deal is good now through June 30th. Use codes:

LifeLovePaper designs are sprinkled throughout most of the kits and add ons this month. My fave is the Let's Do This 3x4 card in the Valley High PL kit. It's also available as a wall print in my Society 6 shop.

Studio Calico's release of Darling Dear hit the shop last week. I'm pretty smitten with this line. It's got that bit of quirk I like in scrapbook designs.

To celebrate the release, the SC blog is hosting a blog hop with new projects from the dt. You can view the list of blogs here.

I created a quick and simple layout using a couple of the Darling Dear digital stamp brushes. I plan to print this out for my Handbook binder that I just got in the mail today. So excited I get start working on my own Handbook. I'm loving the miniature size.
(camera + i heart this digital stamp by Studio Calico//digital card stock + ink splatter by Paislee Press//font is Rawengulk Sans )

Sidenote on the digital stamps. They now come in .png files in addition to .abr brushes. Cool.

Nora is holding an online class that will feature 12 different tags and other various crafty things to get your ready for the upcoming holiday! Class starts tomorrow but registration is open all week. You can read more about the class here.

Post your comment here to win a spot in the 12 Tags for Christmas class. This will be a quick giveaway... I'll choose 1 winner tomorrow!

Only 1 more day to register for 1000 Words: Capture More. I just created several templates to help printing photos easier at home and a few printable pdfs of some fun things. Also, don't forget there will be a private message board so we can all share our photos, thoughts and questions. Hope to see you there October 1st.
XOT

Roller Rink was really fun to play with this month. I think I finished 3 layouts the first day I opened the kit. That's pretty good for me. My 2 favorite layouts contain cut designs that I thought were really cool this month. The Stencil Tags + For Like Ever. The Curious Chevron is cool too but I messed up the layout I had used that design on. Maybe I'll be able to rescue it in the future. You know when you go to mist and you think you're aiming it the right way and ends up spraying in a total different direction. Yeah, that's what happened with that layout. I kept misting thinking I could fix it but ended up looking like a hot mess.

I've had a couple requests to bring back the Make It Work feature here. It's something I do every month with my layouts anyway. I'll just have to remember to photograph the process to show how exactly I made it work. This installment is all about those leftover strips of paper you get when you cut your 12x12 down to 8.5 x 11. I get lot's of those since I only scrapbook in that size. I usually stash them and or cut them up. A lot of times I make quick little cards or tags to adhere to birthday gifts. That's what I've done below.

Simple.
I created these after my layouts were completed. I'm seeing all these great pieces and embellishments from my add ons and thinking I need to use these. Otherwise they'll go in a box and I won't think about them again. Here are some other cards I created with the "leftovers".

My favorite card was created by inking a repeating pattern with the "Seriously, everything will be ok" stamp. It really looks like a letterpress card up close.

We're nearing the end of sign ups for the 1000 Words class! So much information and inspiration on photography will be provided in this class not to mention some freebies like printable pdf's and digital brushes. There will also be a few give aways for students as well like rubber stamps from Life.Love.Paper.
The Studio Calico blog is giving away 1 spot in the class. After submitting your comment there, hop over to each teacher and contributer listed for a chance to win a $10 gift code to use towards the purchase of the class.

Post your comment below and tell me what your photographing right now. If you're not, then you should definitely be signing up for this class! :)